You Never Know What God Will Do

Is an interesting statement, it sounds like the truth and certainly all to often our experience seems to verify this line of thinking.

However this ambiguity is not up held in scripture.

God repeatedly asks his people to seek him, and through the seeking we will find and hear from him.

One of my favourite passages is 2 Chronicles 20:1-29 King Jehoshaphat is faced with a vast Edomite army bent on destruction, hearing the news of this encroaching army ‘Jehoshaphat feared, and set himself to seek the Lord’.

The nation of Judah gathers before the temple, and on behalf of his people the king prays an epic prayer.

First, Jehoshaphat recognises the authority and power of God, then speaks of the fulfilment of God’s covenant with Abraham. Next Jehoshaphat reminds God that they are His people – as though God needs a reminder. Finally ending with the petition for protection from their enemies.

‘We have no power against this great multitude that is coming against us; nor do we know what to do, but our eyes are upon You.’

For most of us this is the point at which our prayers stop.

We forget that in prayer we are entering into the presence of God, and prayer is not a monologue but a conversation. And one thing you can be sure of, God has something to say. Now is the time to listen. Expect God to speak to you. God’s word is, ‘Seek me with all your heart and you will find me’ [Jeremiah 29:13].

If you are in a situation where you are now looking around at your circumstances wondering, ‘what is God up to?’ And you’re telling your friends, “Well you never know what God will do.” You need to go back to God and finish the conversation.

Which is where we’ll pick up the story.

King Jehoshaphat, having finished his prayer.

The Spirit of God came upon Jahaziel one of the Levites. Declaring the word of God he says,

“Do not be afraid nor dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours, but God’s.” [2 Chronicles 20:14-16] And through the Spirit on the man, God gives the people instructions on how they are to conduct themselves.

Worshiping God is the strategy by which Judah are to receive their victory.

The next day when the army of Judah marches out with the musicians and singers at the front, they discover their enemies have completely destroyed themselves, leaving behind three days worth of plunder to be gathered.

But what if, having presented your request and heard from God, you’re still wondering what is God up to?

This may be one of those occasions when you’ve only heard half the message.

What we’ve heard is usually something along the lines of, “I love you or I will bless you.” We’re thrilled, We run off delighted that we’ve heard from God. ‘Praise God he’s going to bless me’ we think, but we don’t know the nature of the blessing. We start to speculate, time passes and we become jaded when our expectations remain unmet.

However, had we spent a little bit more time with God, we would have received some clear direction; a confirmation of a proposed idea [1 Samuel 30:7-8] or an altogether new idea [James 1:5] and on occasions a testing of our faith in the goodness and faithfulness of God [Isaiah 7:10-12].

God is never woolly or vague, the bible is clear with regards to his nature and promises, and the spoken prophetic word always ties to the written word. The Logos λογότυπα and the Rhema ῥῆμα will always complement each other.